Why Building A New House Instead of Buying One?

Building A New House vs. Buying An Established One – What’s The Best Option?

Building a new house or buying one is a big decision. Maybe one that you will be doing once in a lifetime. You want to make sure you have all the info available before you make this decision.

The following criteria are our ones and the assessments we made based on probably the thirty houses we visited when we tried to buy one.

Basically we were looking for a house to cater for our family composed of mum, dad and two little kids. My wife’s desires included a contemporary design, modern interior and spacious rooms.

Brickwork on top of footings prior to the concrete slab being laid

At that time we lived in a house that was rated EER 0, i.e. inexisting insulation. In summer it was hotter inside than outside. In winter the bathroom’s temperature was often next to 0 degree C! Because of this insulation and energy rating were other important criteria in our selection process.

The below table shows how we compared building a house vs. buying an established one off the market.

Criteria

Building a house

Buying a house

Costs:

Stamp duty

Pay only stamp duty on
the land

Pay stamp duty on the
whole value of the house (including land)

Overall cost

For the same budget
bigger house (up to 50 square metre bigger)

For the same budget
smaller house

Comfort:

Energy Rating, Insulation

EER 5.5

Often EER 0, a few were
EER 3 or 4

Ceiling

2.55m high

2.40m high

Kitchen appliances

Brand new, high quality,
our choice

Old, budget models

Painting

New and fresh

Yellowed

Inclusion in the house
(tapware, bathtub, toilet suits, etc.)

Brand new, high quality,
our choice

Old, outdated

Joinery, cupboards

Custom made, plenty of
space, wall hung, marble

Prefabricated

Block of land

Same size

Same size

Time to possession

1 year for the block of
land to be ready for construction + 6 months for construction

A few weeks

Time and energy investment

Moderate to High

Low to Moderate

From our experience what we can say is if you can be a bit patient, willing to deal with a builder to get things done then building a new home has a lot of benefits:

For the same budget you would have a bigger house (not necessarily bigger block of land though)